Voice Over Demo
Get your Home Voice Over Studio in order..BEFORE you cut a demo!
By Dan Lenard, The Home Studio Master.
If you’re new to the voice over Business, think about this before you cut a demo. Many times a Demo Producer will have you come to their studio, even if you live on the other side of the country, to record your demo tracks and work under their controlled conditions. Aside from the added cost of travel, this, in reality, may not represent you the way you exist.
What do I mean? The vast majority of the time, you’ll be recording auditions and producing tracks AT YOUR OWN HOME STUDIO. So doesn’t it make sense to have your demo tracks recorded in the place you’ll be producing your audio? And shouldn’t you know how to do that?You won’t be able to reproduce the sound a skilled engineer can create recording in their custom, acoustically neutral and sterile professional studio. And thats why, Why, when your ready to cut a demo, you should insist that they direct you remotely and you record you from your home base.
You won’t be going back to that engineers studio to record your auditions. You’ll be doing it from home. So, it makes sense to get your home studio up to professional par before you cut a demo and before you start to audition. Your demo should represent you honestly, in the environment you exist in. If you can’t reproduce the sound that engineer skillfully gave you, it will adversely affect your ability to audition.
Make one of your first stops on the road to VO professionalism
Dan Lenard, The Home Studio Master. As a 30 year veteran of the broadcasting and voice over business, I’ve worked with hundreds of voice actors, new and experienced, with producing a professional sound at their home studio. Every voice is different, every room is different. That requires a custom approach to each one.
What I do is get you set up properly from the start. Make sure you don’t waste money on high-end equipment that makes little difference on the quality of your audio, get it arranged properly, and most importantly, make sure your acoustics are where they need to be. After-all, 90-95% of the quality of your dry voice over tracks is far more dependent on the acoustical characteristics of the room record in, as opposed to the cost or brand of the equipment you purchase.
As part of your VO education, it is essential to get this piece in order before you venture out to the marketplace to sell your voice.
Many are intimidated by the technology involved with digital recording on your home computer! With a MS in Education, I make the complex simple and understandable. No geek spoken. Geeks don’t hire voice actors. No need to appeal to their prejudices. Learn the techniques that will help you easily navigate recording (With practice) and produce the audio that sounds good to producers, so they can do what needs to be done to produce a finished product. Thats not your job. Your job as a professional voice talent with a home studio is performance and copy interpretation, and worrying about your audio will only have an adverse affect on that process.
If you’re seriously studying for this career, seriously consider this piece of the complex puzzle that is voice over in the 21st century. Give Producers an honest sound of you, as you exist. Get the help of a proven, experienced, professional consultant that knows “What its supposed to sound like” as opposed to what you think sounds right. Remember, “You don’t hire you!
Click on form below to get this essential part of your voice over business in order, now!
